Category: Hearing Advocate
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Excited or Overstimulated?
Volunteer training shadowing a Hearing Advocate last Friday either excited or overstimulated me. There can be a fine line between the two. Since then I’ve had trouble slowing down and turning off, and found myself glued to laptop, tablet, or iPhone until past my bedtime. I’ve resorted to taking clonazepam to turn off my brain and fall asleep.…
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So….who are you?
As I begin my training as a Hearing Advocate for those involuntarily hospitalized, I found this post timely. Finding My Sunshine is a mother, wife and PhD student living with Bipolar disorder. In this post, she describes her experience with involuntary hospitalization and multiple ECT sessions administered while prescribed Lithium, resulting in severe memory loss.…
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I Loved It! ~ Patients Rights Advocacy
Loved shadowing an MHA Hearing Advocate earlier today. Look forward to learning more. Great opportunity for me to make use of my experience having been psychiatrically hospitalized for bipolar disorder (albeit voluntarily), while dusting off old knowledge and skills from my education and the careers of my early adulthood. After all, I have a BA…
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Full Circle
This morning I interviewed with Mental Heath Association of Orange County to be a volunteer Hearing Advocate representing clients placed on mental health holds (involuntary psychiatric hospitalization for 72-hours). HEARING ADVOCACY – Advocates fill a legally state mandated role to ensure that involuntarily detained persons in a psychiatric hospital have the opportunity to express their views…